Shannon Kay de l'Etoile , Ph.D.

Professor

Biography

Shannon de l’Etoile, Ph.D., is Associate Dean of Graduate Studies, and Professor of Music Therapy at the University of Miami FROST School of Music. She knows better than anyone the therapeutic effects of music as well as its power to soothe and help heal. A board-certified music therapist and member of both the American Music Therapy Association (AMTA), and the Southeastern Region of the AMTA, Dr. de l’Etoile is pleased to share her knowledge in this specialized area of expertise.

In addition to her experience as a clinician, Dean de l’Etoile received recognition as a Fellow of the Robert F. Unkefer Academy of Neurologic Music Therapy. She currently serves on the editorial review board for the Journal of Music Therapy and was previously a member of the editorial review board for Music Therapy Perspectives.

Combining her clinical background and the vast knowledge she has acquired throughout her career, Dean de l’Etoile has worked with adults with mental illness, children and adolescents with emotional and behavioral disorders, adults and children with developmental disabilities, and adults and children with neurologic disorders. Her current focus is on the study of infants’ responses to music, and their arousal and response when they’re serenaded with song. Even at that young age, an infant’s reaction is to move in response to the rhythm. As evidenced on any dance floor, that’s an instinct that becomes more pronounced even as we age.

Dean de l’Etoile joined the FROST School of Music faculty in fall 2001. Widely published author, Dean de l’Etoile earned both her bachelor and master’s degrees in music therapy from Colorado State University. She received her doctorate in music education with an emphasis on music therapy from the University of Kansas. Prior to her current appointment at FROST, she taught music therapy at the University of Iowa and at Colorado State University. She was previously a research associate for the internationally-recognized Center for Biomedical Research in Music in Fort Collins, Colorado.